


The Sound Rings

by LuciaWilt



Category: Finder no Hyouteki | Finder Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Genderbending, Introspection, Romantic Fluff, The Sound of Music - Freeform, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22121158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuciaWilt/pseuds/LuciaWilt
Summary: It was an unfortunate hard beat of his heart that punctuated her excited smile. “Oh Captain you are home!”
Relationships: Asami Ryuichi/Liu Fei Long, Asami Ryuichi/Takaba Akihito
Kudos: 38





	The Sound Rings

**Author's Note:**

> no one:
> 
> me: so what about a sound of music au where akihito is maria, asami is the captain, and fei long is the baroness.

It was not as though Asami asked for much. Well, he didn’t consider it much when looking at the big picture; order, discipline, his men were able to achieve such things on his ship so his children should be able to follow suit in their home. His trips took him away to Vienna often to see the Baroness, but that did not excuse them for not being in line when he returned. That’s why he hired that silly little girl from the abbey, what was her name; Akihito? Perhaps she was not a girl, but her boyish appearance, compared to the Baroness’ beside him, tended to make the petite blonde look younger beyond her years. Yes they had barely interacted and already Asami could see Akihito was nothing but trouble, a ‘hooligan’ that rushed about; nothing but an airhead. 

“Where are you Ryuichi?” Baroness Fei Long’s breathy voice whispered beside him. Asami’s eyes switched to her, observed her formal attire; so fashionable and sleek. Her long black hair was pinned up atop her head and her sharp eyes caught him like a hawk. Yes she was far more observant and aware of her surroundings than many believed. Most men in Vienna mistook the woman beside him as someone to be toyed with, to be played for their money. But Asami knew better; could see beyond her striking good looks. She was a jaguar. 

“Right here with you.” Asami muttered back with a forced smile as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. The two started down the small path beside the bushes. 

Baroness Fei Long let out that laugh that entranced men before she spoke again. “You know, you are much less of a riddle when I see you here Ryuichi.” 

“In my natural habitat?” He laughed at the joke before gently slapping his riding crop down. Of course Fei Long laughed along with him; that was something he truly enjoyed about the woman he had in his arms. She was witty and quick, smart; her beauty was just an added bonus. 

“Yes, exactly.” 

“Are you trying to say I’m more at home here… among the birds and the flowers…” He felt a twinge of a smile just imagining the busy streets of Vienna compared to the luxurious calmness of his home. “And the wind that moves through the trees like a restless sea hmm?” They came to a stop at a smaller clearing, the water beside them and Asami’s giant estate on the opposite. 

Of course Baroness Fei Long smirked. Her smile truly was enchanting. “How poetic.” 

“Yes it was rather wasn’t it?” He rubbed the handle of the riding crop against his chin before continuing. “More at home here? Then in Vienna? In all your glittering salons.” He tapped her hip before she grabbed his arm and they continued down the small path. All around him he could feel the breeze he had spoken of, hear the wonderful little birds he had jested about. “Gossiping gaily with bores I detest, soaking myself in champagne.” There was a brief thought that crossed his mind as he walked with her. There was… there was that aspect of friendship he had long craved for. While he was a quiet and solitary man, and he liked it that way, there was always that itch for something of a platonic companionship. Baroness Fei Long’s vicious mind matched his perfectly. “Stumbling about to waltzes by Strauss I can’t even remember. Is that what you are trying to say?” 

Baroness Fei Long’s lovely laughter had him stopping; both of them smiling at one another with the warm weather above. “More or less, yes.” 

“Now whatever gave you that idea?”

They stared at one another, Baroness Fei Long laughing again; yet she did not answer. Her eyes shifted from him to the side before she turned straight towards the stunning view of the mountain and the lake. “Oh I do like it here Ryuichi. It’s so lovely and peaceful. How can you leave it as often as you do?”

The one question he really did not want to answer, yet everyone kept asking it of him. “Pretending to be madly active I suppose. Activity suggests a life filled with purpose.” His answer did not have the ‘oomph’ he was hoping; not the happiness he had been working towards. 

Baroness Fei Long clearly caught on. Her eyes narrowed and those red painted lips smirked up in a Cheshire-esque grin. “Could it be running away from memories?” 

This. This is why he yearned to be this woman’s friend; why he wanted her companionship. His face was turned out towards the mountains but his own sharp eyes found hers before he nodded. “M-hmm.” He started walking back towards the stone path. “Or perhaps just searching for a reason to stay.” 

Asami did not catch Baroness Fei Long’s searching eyes. “Oh I hope that’s why you have been coming to Vienna so often. Or were there other distractions there?” 

That had him chuckling before he patted her backside lightly; both smirking. “I would hardly call you a mere distraction darling.” It was the tone that made most women and men he interacted with swoon. Baroness Fei Long was no exception. She smiled rather brightly. 

She took a few steps forwards before stopping and turning in his direction. “Well what would you call me Ryuichi?” 

He hummed under his breath, finding the words to answer truthfully yet not reveal too much too soon. Asami lifted the riding crop before he responded. “Lovely. Charming, witty, graceful. The perfect hostess.” They were all true; and dancing around the things he truly wanted to say, what he truly felt. 

Her face twisted oddly when he continued. “And uh, you are going to hate me for this but; in a way, my savior.” There was something he could not quite place on her fine features. But he did not have the energy to bring it up. 

“How unromantic.” She said, clear teasing in her voice; though he could pick up on some of the seriousness there. 

“I would be an ungrateful wretch if I did not tell you at least once that it was you who brought some meaning back into my life.” 

At first Baroness Fei Long did not respond. He saw her red lip quiver before she turned. “Oh I am amusing I suppose. And I do have the finest couturier in Vienna; and the most glittering circle of friends. I do give some rather gay parties.” They hooked arms and walked back towards the stone path once again; Asami not really wanting to comment on the strangeness of her response. Though, Baroness Fei Long did often twist her words so wonderfully. 

“Yes.” He laughed. 

“But take all that way and you just have wealthy, unattached little me searching just like you.” 

Oh yes she surely did know how to spin her web. Asami watched her out of the corner of his eye. 

~’~

He should not have been so surprised to see such a thing. He rushed down the stone path with Baroness Fei Long behind him as they watched the small boat come closer and closer. Both would be fools not to recognize the clothing. “Local urchins”, he had called them in the car. It didn’t take long for the new young governess to turn around, catching sight of him. 

It was an unfortunate hard beat of his heart that punctuated her excited smile. “Oh Captain you are home!” She gasped. He could not help but flush at the sight of her foolishly shorn blonde hair; making her almost appear like the other children in the boat. As if on cue from the young woman, his children were then all calling for him, standing as well. 

Of course that would not last for long. Before they could all blink; every occupant of the little raft was in the water, laughing and giggling. Asami himself felt furious. To disregard his orders like that! 

They continued to laugh and shout, though slowly exiting the lake, even after he commanded them to leave the water at once. Baroness Fei Long shuffled up behind him, catching Akihito’s attention once again. “Oh you must be Baroness Fei Long! Hello!” Asami noticed the smirk on the black haired woman’s face; one she quickly tamped down upon noticing she was being watched. 

Once he saw that all the children were out of the water, and all rapidly speaking at once, Asami blew his whistle. The effects were immediate. The children hushed and lined up. “Straight line!” Only “Governess” Akihito stumbled out of the water then as he walked and inspected his children, snapping a bandana off once of them. He turned and walked back to the Baroness. She looked resplendent compared to the soaked to the bone Akihito who stood there wide eyed. Of course Asami could not help but notice; once her clothing was tighter she was far…chestier… then she truly appeared. 

“This is Baroness Fei Long.” He said, introducing the wet rats he called kin to the woman beside him. Then he turned back to the children, frowning. “And these, are my children.” Though they surely had not been acting like it nor looking the part. He felt his stomach twist in anger and embarrassment. 

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the smile on Baroness Fei Long’s red lips; how she bit it with a white tooth. “How do you do?” They were respectfully silent in her presence as they should be. All the while Akihito stood there dumbfounded. 

“Alright go inside. Dry off. Clean up. Change of clothes and report back here. Immediately!” The kids bolted at that command. So it seemed they had some form of respect to authority left in them. Akihito, soaked to the bone with a frown on her sweet face stormed passed him but didn’t get very far. “Akihito you will stay here please!” 

Thankfully the lovely woman beside him COULD read the situation. She cleared her throat. I think I’d better go see what Kirishima is up to.” She turned and hurried off, leaving the two of them along on the walkway. 

Akihito had that defiant look in her eyes that had Asami’s heart beating like a drum. Damn the wild nun that stood before him, looking far less a nun then he had ever witnessed before. 

“Now, ‘Governess’.” He started, holding the wet bandanna in his hand. “I want a truthful answer from you.”

“Yes, Captain?” Her sweet little voice sounded so striking compared to Baroness Fei Long’s. 

“Is it possible- or could I have just imagined it. Have my children, by any chance, been climbing trees today?” 

It took the infuriatingly bright and fast witted young woman before him less than a second to answer with a smile and a nod. “Yes, Captain.” 

“I see. And where, may I ask, did they get these-“ He paused, holding the fabric in his hands up; not sure what to call them. 

Again she responded right away. “Play clothes.” 

“Is that what you call them?” He felt like his head was going to explode with anger. Never the less she nodded with a sweet little hum. 

“I made them from the drapes that used to hang in my bedroom.” 

Asami was STUNNED; near speechless from what she had said. “Drapes?” 

“They still had plenty of wear left. The children have been everywhere in them.”

That was it, he stormed forwards even as Akihito held her ground. “Do you mean to tell me my children have been have been roaming about Salzburg dressed up in nothing but some old drapes?” He shouted, punctuating the sentence by throwing the wet fabric to the ground with a slap. She simply smiled and nodded. 

“Mm-hmm, and having a marvelous time.” 

“They have uniforms.” This back and forth; it felt like he was young again, even if he was infuriated. 

He started to walk away but she continued yet again. “Straightjackets if you’ll forgive me.” But that… that hurt him. He felt the pinch of it in his chest. 

“I will not forgive you for that.”

“Children cannot do the things they’re supposed to do if they have to worry about spoiling their precious clothes.” So it seemed they were having it out here and now. He had been planning on finding the Baroness but that was shot now. 

“I haven’t heart them complain yet.” He said, stalking back towards the gate the still soaking wet Akihito had come through not ten minutes prior. 

“They wouldn’t dare. They love you too much. They fear you too much.” Did she know how to shut her damn mouth when she was ahead? 

“I don’t wish you to discuss my children in this manner.” Asami ignored the fact he hired the woman standing before him to do just that sort of thing; but it seemed as though Akihito would do no such thing, give him no such reprieve. She stormed forwards as well; somehow looking menacing in her wet dress. 

“Well you’ve got to hear from someone. You’re never home long enough-.”

“I said I don’t want to hear any more from you-.”

The look of desperation on Akihito’s face transformed. She turned angry. “I know you don’t but you’ve got to.” Such passion! Asami felt his eyes widen for a moment. It seemed at the beginning she would not last such a long time but now Akihito appeared to have created a tight bond with his kids. 

“Now take Liesl-.”

“You’ll not say one word about Liesl.” Now that the shock had passed, Asami was right back to roadblocking anything that came out of the infuriating woman’s mouth. He didn’t know what he wanted to do, kiss the damn woman or push her from his home. 

“She is not a child anymore. You’re going to wake up one of these days and find a woman. You won’t even know her.” All the while Asami continued to warn his Governess off speaking another word. But she just steamrolled ahead. 

“And Friedrich; he is a boy, but he wants to be a man like you; and there’s no one to show him how.” He couldn’t stand looking at her. If he did, he knew he would kiss her quiet so he turned back towards the mountains to find the peace Baroness Fei Long had spoke of. 

“Don’t you dare tell me about my son!” 

“Brigitta could tell you about him, if you’d let her get close to you.” Again and again, Akihito was attacking each carefully lain wall he had put up; something he did to protect the truth spears she was hurling at him every second. “She notices everything. And Kurt pretends he’s tough not to show how hurt he is when you brush him aside.” 

“Governess.” Asami said, voice even with patience that was quickly wearing thin. 

As per everything she seemed to do, she jumped straight in with everything she had in her. “The way you do with all of them.” She said at the same time he exclaimed ‘that will do’. Of course she continued even after he repeated his command. “Louisa, I don’t know about, but someone has to find out. And the little ones just want to be loved.” Now she rushed over to him. He nearly thought she would through her arms around him in exasperation. “Oh please! Love them! Love them all!” But he just stormed past her. 

“I don’t care to hear anything further from you about my children.” But honestly it just hurt to see a young nun grow so close and know so much when it had taken years to find out just a scrap from his own children on his part. 

“I am not finished yet Captain!” She gasped, clearly out of breath from the tirade she had been going on. But that was all he was wanting to hear. 

“Oh yes you are Captain-“

Shit. 

He watched Akihito’s eyes grow wide and the smallest smirk grow on her sweet face. Asami himself sighed out of frustration. “Akihito.” He corrected himself “Now, you will pack your things this minute and return to the abbey….” Asami trailed off, catching the sound of something in the air. He hesitated. “What’s that.” He stated, the inflection of a question not making its way through. 

Akihito herself tilted her head up as though the mere sound of singing gave her life. “It’s singing sir.” 

Asami could not help but roll his eyes at that. “Yes, I realize it’s singing, but who is singing?”

Her face twisted and he felt a mirror emotion in his chest. “The children.” 

There it was. There was that feeling once again; the same way he felt when he walked into her bedroom to see the smiles and laughter on all his children’s faces that night. It was… it was as though his wife was standing before him. 

Asami turned towards the house, “The children.” He whispered before running inside; knowing full well Governess Akihito was following behind him. Just as she said, the children were there in the sitting room; all cleaned up and singing to Baroness Fei Long. 

In that moment, Asami could not control himself; like his body belonged to someone else. There he was, singing right along his children who only paused for a brief moment before picking up once again. When they were all finished, a veil lifted from his eyes; seeing the world with color once again. There he was, standing with his children in his arms and a smile on his face so big it nearly ached. Yet…yet something was missing. 

Commanding his children to wait, he rushed out of the room and found Governess Akihito rushing up the steps. “Governess… I… behaved badly… I apologize.” Clearly the young woman on the steps had not been expecting that from him. She tucked one of her arms close to her still wet gown. 

“I’m-I’m far too outspoken. It’s one of my worst faults.” Asami felt a smirk on his face at her response. He would NOT consider that a fault. An… asset perhaps. But definitely not a fault. 

“You were right.” He took a few steps closer, cheering inside when Akihito did not rush off at the new, albeit smaller, proximity. “I don’t know my children.”

Of course he was seeing who Akihito really was. She smiled and grabbed onto the railing; clearly seeing the absolute best in everyone. “There’s still time, Captain. They want so much to be close to you.” He wondered how much of her own feelings seeped through but did not comment on that. 

The next words… he felt the weight of them in his heart and only wished he was relaying the meaning to her. “You brought music back into the house. I’d forgotten.” 

Her expression subtly shifted but it seemed as though she understood at least a little of the magnitude of what he had said. Yet she turned to continue up the steps. If he didn’t stop her now, he would lose her forever in whatever capacity he could have her. “Governess… Akihito.” He all but whispered. She stopped. “I want you to stay. I ask you to stay.” 

Asami adored the light that shone in her eyes as she leaned forwards again. “If I could be of any help-.” She said, as if she did not realize how far her actions pushed them into the future. 

“You have already. More than you know.” 


End file.
